The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea has selected Jung Yeon-doo as the artist featured in its MMCA Hyundai Motor Series 2023, in recognition of his art that hovers between reality and illusion and casts a critical look on various social issues. Jung has explored various artistic media, including photographs, performances and installations, creating art that provokes curiosity about the relationship between reality and illusion. His “DMZ Theater” shown at MMCA

Arts & Design March 8, 2023

Conceptual artist Peter Weibel, who had pioneered media art as a theorist and curator since the 1960s, died on Wednesday. He was 78. The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, which is hosting an ongoing exhibition by Weibel, announced Friday it will set up a space dedicated to the artist, allowing visitors to pay tribute to him until May 14. Weibel’s exhibition, “respectively, Peter Weibel. Art as an Act of Cognition,” that opened on Feb. 3 became the artist&

Arts & Design March 3, 2023

Seoul Museum of Art announced Friday that this September's Seoul Mediacity Biennale would aim to redefine the concepts of migration, diaspora and languages. Titled “This Too, is a Map,” this year's edition of the contemporary art event will be helmed by artistic director Rachael Rakes. The artistic director of the 12th biennale was selected through an open call process for the first time in an effort to embrace diversity, organizers said. The artistic director had previous

Arts & Design March 3, 2023

K-Auction, a major art auctioneer in South Korea, will host an online charity auction starting Saturday to help children affected by the earthquakes that killed at least 50,000 people in Turkey and northwest Syria last month. The charity auction will run through March 14 jointly with the Seoul-based nonprofit AIF Children, offering 100 works by 76 artists who have agreed to help. Between 50 to 100 percent of the profits from the auctioned item, except for some fees that will go to the artists an

Arts & Design March 3, 2023

Inspiring house items for spring E-commerce platform 29CM’s curation showroom, 29 Seongsu, in Seongsu-dong, Seoul, is holding an exhibition for the spring season under the theme of “inspiring house,” introducing the living and lifestyle brands' items for garden, lounge, dining room and bathroom. Danish brands Hay and &Tradition’s signature color lamps adorn the lounge-like space on the first floor of the showroom, whereas the second floor has been turned into a b

Culture March 3, 2023

When life doesn't turn out the way you expect, you might actually end up laughing about it all, having been pleasantly surprised by the outcome. Lee Won-woo is an artist who captures this sentiment in his work, playing with irony and poking fun at life with his art in a lighthearted and humorous way. “I think I enjoy seeking out the funny aspects of things,” Lee said, gesturing as if digging into something with his index finger while talking with reporters Tuesday at the PKM

Arts & Design March 2, 2023

Media artist Kim Hee-cheon has won the 20th Hermes Foundation Missulsang, Hermes Korea announced Monday. The foundation awards a rising Korean artist every two years to support their artistic career, offering a solo exhibition at the nonprofit Atelier Hermes gallery in Seoul located at the building of the luxury brand’s flagship store. “Kim Hee-cheon’s work deals with some of the most challenging and urgent questions of our age of digital domination, especially the questions of

Arts & Design March 1, 2023

Hong Seung-hye is an artist who continuously expands her artistic horizons. Twenty-six years after discovering the artistic potential of computer pixels, she has transcended to a new dimension in her craft, inviting others to explore the captivating world of her latest creations. Hong named the exhibition “Over the Layers II” at the Kukje Gallery, reminiscing about the song “Over the Rainbow” from the film “The Wizard of Oz.” The latest show is the second iter

Arts & Design Feb. 28, 2023

Korean contemporary art master Park Seo-bo has revealed that he was recently diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer, showing perseverance as a painter at the same time in saying he is full of passion and wants to focus on painting for the rest of his life. “I try to walk and exercise a lot. This is not to live longer, rather, to paint more. I have lived enough, but I still have things that I wish to paint. I want to spend this time more meaningfully,” Park wrote on social media on Th

Arts & Design Feb. 26, 2023

A feast for the eyes Lovers of Jinro soju and its Jinro Toad mascots will descend onto the streets of Seoul’s bustling Gangnam neighborhood. Just a two-minute walk from Gangnam Station Exit No. 11, you can see the sky blue and pink Dookkeop Arcade pop-up store. Many people flock to distiller HiteJinro’s megasized iconic mascots -- blue and pink Jinro Toads -- at the store’s entrance. After a quick ID check to verify visitors are of the legal drinking age, guests can freely brow

Culture Feb. 24, 2023

Hwang Dal-sung, president of Keumsan Gallery, was reelected as president of the Galleries Association of Korea on Thursday, renewing his position for another two years, defeating rival candidate Do Hyung-teh, president of Gallery Hyundai, by only one vote, according to the association. The two-way election, conducted Thursday afternoon at the Westin Josun Seoul, turned out to be so competitive that Hwang barely maintained his position, earning 69 votes against Doh's 68. The association re

Arts & Design Feb. 23, 2023

Artist Lee Hae-eun has produced a variety of bags and shoes using "hanji," traditional Korean paper made from mulberry bark. Delving into the world of traditional paper, she quickly learned how unique hanji is compared to paper from other Asian countries. “Hanji is durable, preservable and has good ventilation compared to ‘hwaji,’ Japanese mulberry paper or ‘seonji,’ Chinese mulberry paper, which have their own characteristics,” Lee said at a forum o

Arts & Design Feb. 22, 2023

Soon after regaining its sovereignty following 35 years of Japanese colonial rule, Korea was faced with yet another tragedy – a war between the two Koreas in 1950. The war, which broke out as North Korea invaded the South, came to a halt with the Armistice Agreement signed on July 27, 1953. The cease-fire included a 238-kilometer-long military demarcation line with a 2-kilometer-wide buffer zone on each side along the entire length, known as the Demilitarized Zone. The DMZ remains intact,

Arts & Design Feb. 22, 2023

Seoul-based gallery Barakat Contemporary will participate in Art Dubai 2023 next month, showing leading artists the gallery represents from home and abroad. The five-day event in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, which launches on March 1, will display works of art from more than 400 artists in 40 countries across four sections: Contemporary, Modern, Bawwaba -- meaning "gateway" in Arabic -- and Digital. It is open to the public from March 3 to 5. Among the 72 galleries participating in the

Arts & Design Feb. 21, 2023

Gallery Hyundai presents a solo exhibition of Korean painter Chung Zu-young, unveiling the artist’s new painting series inspired by mountains and meteorology. The artist had long been enamored by mountains, but now turns her eye higher to the sky. “Last summer the weather changed dramatically, and it was extremely hot and rainy. I saw a big storm cloud, or maybe a pillar of clouds after it stop raining. It just seemed like a symbolic huge storm cloud with a unique form. I wanted to

Arts & Design Feb. 18, 2023